Herbst impresses with top-10 finish in Xfinity Series debut

Making his NASCAR national series debut in the Xfinity Series, Riley Herbst wasted no time turning heads. The 19-year-old Las Vegas native scored a sixth-place finish in his maiden voyage in the series behind the wheel of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. "It was cool," Herbst said after the race. "I came here to learn as much as I possibly could and I feel like I did that. We came home sixth. I would have liked a top five but all in all it was a good day, I thought." RELATED: Full race results | Race recap of Iowa 250 Herbst qualified ninth for the race and spent the bulk of the afternoon in the top 10. A speeding penalty entering the pits on Lap 201 was the lone misstep of the day for the young driver and one that he chalked up to inexperience. Yet, he was able to rally back for the top-10 result. "That was kind of frustrating because I feel like we got pushed into that speeding penalty," Herbst said. "I’ve never done anything like this in this series but I guess that’s what you do to get other people to speed. "I knew that we sped. We got all the way back to 18th, driving back up to sixth (in the final 46 laps). I thought that was just a testament to our team on how good the car was all day." RELATED: Get to know the NASCAR Next Class |  NASCAR Next Class of 2018 announced Herbst is in his second year of the NASCAR Next youth initiative. Before the season, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that Herbst would participate in two Camping World Truck Series races later this year with the first scheduled to come on Saturday night at Gateway Motorsports Park. "I'm really excited," Herbst said. "Gateway is a super unique track. It's another short track but totally different from Iowa Speedway with the flat ends on each end. I know everybody at Kyle Busch Motorsports will give me a great No. 51 truck."